Search Results for: Belgium

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has cleared the proposed sale of Belgium-based Polimeri’s polystyrene business, to France-owned Total Petrochemicals Feluy. Following an inquiry, the Commission concluded there were no major "competition concerns" and approved the deal without conditions. Total Petrochemicals Feluy makes commodity polymers (polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene), and is controlled by French fuel giant Total.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

IMAGINATION and guile continue to help fraudsters milk hundreds of millions of Euros from the European Union’s (EU) well-stocked budgets, explains the latest report from EU anti-fraud agency OLAF, writes Keith Nuthall.

OLAF spends a lot of money sniffing out fraud in the institutions and programmes of the EU and the payment of duties earmarked to fund this spending.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPEAN Union (EU) anti-fraud agency OLAF is claiming focusing on larger frauds and referring smaller scams to national law enforcement agencies is paying off. More than 75% of cases closed in 2009 led to judicial or financial recovery proceedings, according the agency’s latest annual report.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE CREATION of a European [Union – EU] Investigation Order (EIO) for criminal matters has been proposed by seven EU member states. It would allow national courts to order judicial or police investigations in another EU country, collecting evidence for a possible trial.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has fined 12 producers of animal feed phosphates Euro EUR175million for operating a cartel across Europe, inflating feed prices for livestock producers. Phosphates are widely used in feed, including for cattle, pigs and poultry. The Commission said the cartel covered "most of the EU" in sharing markets and fixing prices.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A GROUP of researchers and biotechnology companies have protested to the European Commission against the European Union’s (EU) Innovative Medicines Joint Technology Initiative (IMI), claiming it insufficiently protects their intellectual property. A joint statement was released by the European University Association (EUA); research and technology organisation federation EARTO; German biotechnology association BIO Deutschland; and similar national associations from Belgium, Spain and Sweden.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) may be legally a single market, food prices range widely across its 27 member states. The most recent survey of 500 comparable products by Eurostat, the EU’s statistical agency, shows last year (2009) the price of a comparable basket of food and non-alcoholic beverages was more than twice as high in the most expensive EU country than the cheapest.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) is helping the USA deal with the massive BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Coordinated by the EU emergency response group, the Monitoring and Information Centre (MIC), the EU will send oil skimmers and oil spill experts.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has fined 17 producers of prestressing steel Euro 518 million for operating a cartel that lasted 18 years until 2002 and covered all but three of the then 15 European Union (EU) member states – Britain, Ireland and Greece.…

BY DAVID HAWORTH,PAUL RIGG,LEE ADENDOORF,MAKKI MARSEILLES,E BLAKE BERRY,FLORENCE LABEDAYS,SYMON ROSS and KEITH NUTHALL

WATER utilities are maybe used to getting bad press. After all, we all need water, and we need and want it to be clean. When a water supplier fails, it is easy to make complaints and see them amplified in newspapers, television, radio and the Internet.…